Of Eleflion. 75 favour of God for Salvation, wherefore God f.1ys, Gtn, 6, 8. But Noah fouttd ~ grace in the ryes oftht Lord, and not upon the account of Works. And fo in C.hu p 4 , like manner lorthe ~ef!iah, be underfiood <hat hos Ark, he was forewarned ~ to prepare, was the figure of him, even as of A6r<1ham, it is faid in the fame He6. 1 1. Verf 19. That he 1mdnflood a11d rece_tvtd hrs Son lfaac, in a figure ofthe Refurrel1ion; Namely, of Chnfi, .and fo ofus, hrmfelf and all in Chnfi unto Eternalltfe, and !hll I fay as he Believed, fo he Preached th1s Gofpel, rhe fame with ours, that is for the fub!lance ofit. :t. The Gofpel being thus Preached by Noah. 'tis further faid by Pettr, that Chrifi in his Divine Nature, was he that Preached in Noah's Minifiry, as real– ly as now he doth in the Apollles, (when gone to Heaven) he is fa id to do, Ephef :1.. Ht came andPreached Peace to JOU wb~ehwere afar off,&c. Thus afore flelh alfumed, as well as now fince, for it was he who being : '''"'• the word, that !lill fpake in all thofe difpenfations to the Fathers; And fo .Pettr here, In which Spirit ht Wtllt and Preached, &c, ~· Only there was but one NMh, that is in that latter part or Age ofthat World, who ( fome way or other) Preached to tht whole world to condemn it, as He6, 1 '• 17. thereby making way for their defiruCl:ion, and damnation that followed thereupon, as upon difobedience to the Gofpel it now alfo cloth; but now under the Gofpel,great is (and was in Ptltrs days) tkt company of Prtachers, as the Pjatnufl fpeaks. 4• Ptter to admonilij the prefent World of that great fin of neglecting the great Salvation tells them; 1. That as then, fo now, few are faved by this Gofpel Preached : Few, that is, eight Perfons thm, and now, take times,and means the whole worltt ties ill wscktdnefs, comparatively to thefe, few arefaved, :t. That look as then the event was, that the fouls ofthem that difobeyed went to Hell, He Preached to the fouls in Prifon, fays .Peter, and by pnfon, hell is there meant (as Chrifis fpeech imports) he jhall 6e ca(lrnto prtjon, andpay tht utmofl farthit~g )fo it will fall out inevitably now, and with a grea– ter damnation, as the means.are greater. ~· Their Sin was cleaving to their Lufis, and Pleafures in Wives, and eating and drinking, that they would not be perfwaded to embrace Chrifi: Which is here termed dl{o6edi~nce, fonow. " ' And that we may further dear this to have been Ptters Scope to infiitute this Parallel, thofe correfpondent allufions which Pettrufeth ( fp ·aking here ofthofe ofthe Old World) unto what in the very Story we find •n Genejis Re– corded of them, doth evidence this, and are very remarkable in three Parti– culars, Whereas, 1, Peter fays that Chrifi in his Spirit went and Preached to thtm, anfwe– rably.-in G.en. 6. ~· Chrifr thus fpeaks, my Spiritjhall not alwqys jlrivt, that isl in the Minifiry of my Servants, as hitherto it bath done ofEnochs, and o· thers, and particularly, in that of my Ser'vamNoah. :t, Whereas Peter fays that the long fuffering of God waited for their repentance upon Noah's Preaching, in like manner Chrifi there in Gmejis in the fame Verfe fays, Yet Mans days thall be 110 Years, as a fpace to re– pent in , after and upon Noah's Preaching and warning fo long be– fore. L:t ~· That •
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